The Darkness that Lies Within
by emutastic
Summary: Sometimes you can't run from the darkness. Sometimes, the darkness is inside. [Discontinued]
1. Black Tint

Ramona stares into the eyes of the Inferno Elemental that stands before her. Her staff is gripped vertically in her hands and she pushes back against the flames. She struggles to keep it from reaching her person. She can feel her silver locks becoming singed by the flames. If Ramona doesn't act fast, said staff will snap in half allowing the flame engulfed beast a clear shot at her head, chest, and stomach.

Biting her lip she pushes the staff forward hoping to throw this one back so she can counter attack. Though it appears to work, the staff crumbles in half. A pair of crimson orbs widen in fear with little time to avoid the attack.

The Mage furrows her brow and raised her hands to her face bracing herself for the pain. But the hand of the Elemental never touches her. In front of the girl a Paladin stands tall. Artix's sword blocks the attack. "Need some help?" the warrior asks, showing smile. She nods and quickly grabs the upper half of her staff off the ground in one sweeping movement.

"Is this the last one?" Ramona manages to spit out. He gives her a reassuring nod.

Closing her eyes she begins building up her mana quickly. She can feel the frozen power rise within her at a speed that can put the Wind village's ninjas to shame. "_Glaci crystallo_.*" The unnerving and chilling feeling of the pale blue energy leaving her body spirals down her spine; She shudders at the motion.

Ramona peeks her head over Atrix's shoulder to watch the Inferno disappear as the ice melts away the flames. The energy surrounds the beast almost too quickly. Why, she can't pull her eyes away from the sight. But it isn't the speed that catches her attention. It's the strange black discoloration of the usually pale blue energy that holds her gaze captive.

Her eyes flick to Artix's face in panic. Has he noticed the strange black tint? Artix sits down and starts to remove the outer amour in his usual routine with no hint that he has seen her worry. She quickly scans the face of her other comrades. No one seems to notice.

Letting a sigh escape her lips, Ramona plops on to the ground next to Robina. "That last bunch was tough wasn't it?" the green clad girl chirps. Ramona grabs her arm and starts to repair some of the simple wounds.

"Yeah, I thought that last one was going to get me for sure," she mumbles with a small chuckle and continues to bandage the arm in front of her. Robina clears her throat. "Is something wrong?" Ramona asks curiously. She watches as Robina's hand casually points in the direction of a certain sullen Paladin.

With a jolt Ramona's head snaps up. "Artix!" she squeaks. She's flustered with the guilt of forgetting her manners and blushes.

His brown eyes lock on her and he swallows a chuckle. "Uhm yes?" Honestly, the man tries his best to keep from laughing at her 'wonderful' expression (She is what he would call, the definition of awkward).

"Thank you" she breathes, just enough for him to hear her, "for, you know . . . saving me back there." The heat in Ramona's face increases a few degrees and she gives another awkward smile. "I owe you again, hah."

Artix rests a hand on the back of his neck "It was no problem really, my pleasure actually. I prefer it that my friends don't fry to a crisp!"

Another smile and a quiet "thankyou" fall out of the mage's mouth before she returns to the task at hand.

Fumbling through the leather pouch attached to her hips she finds an ointment for the burns that run up her friend's forearm. Ramona gently grabs her wounded extremity and examines the damage. "What an interesting injury" she mumbles, "you'd have to be pretty careless to let one land one of these on you."

Robina flinches at the stern tone in the-oh-so quiet voice. She then sucks in a gasp of air when Ramona swiftly twists the arm to further inspect the wound. Robina whimpers a little at the treatment but keeps her mouth shut. She knows that Ramona is only acting so brash to show she's upset with Robina's lack of carefulness.

Ramona begins to dig through the satchel attached to her hips and pulls out a small bottle with a pasty green liquid. After pouring the mystery fluid on her hands, she applies it to the charred skin with ease. Once the liquid absorbs into Robina's arm, she hands the rest of the bottle to Robina.

"Apply this tonight before you go to bed and it should be healed by morning." Ramona pulls out some bandages from her bag and wraps it tightly, ignoring the small whines from her patient. "But please use it sparingly, it was very expensive and I'd like it back sometime." Robina gives a grunt of understanding and Ramona lets go of her arm

Though before Robina can gather her things Valencia decides to get a word in or two about the _expensive_ and _rare_ salve now in her hands. Valencia being the treasure hunter she is always has an eye out for the rare items that pop up from time to time and never wastes an opportunity to gain another collection. What first starts out as a calm discussion - '_Oh my, that rare salve you have there must be wonderful!' - 'Uhm yes, it does feel pretty good."-_ Turns into a heated argument of who needs it more as per usual with these two.

Ramona quietly works on healing Zhoom, and tries her best to ignore the playful bickering going on around her. It takes absolutely no time seeing as it is simply a small scratch (one of the things she likes best about Zhoom, he never came back beaten almost to the point of no repair or beaten at all for that matter.). So they sit and watch.

"Five dragon coins it will escalate to a fist fight in no time." Zhoom chides gaining a small giggle from the frown the young woman has been wearing.

"I don't bet against the obvious Zhoom. And I defiantly don't gamble with you," replies Ramona. Politely she takes a sip of a red potion she brought along. Her thoughts drift to the strange impurity in her magic.

A pleasantly rich voice tears her from her thoughts "It's getting dark out, its best we head back to Falconreach before the other creatures begin to show up." Ramona feels a smile slip on to her face as the Blue mage speak, and he returns the favor. "So I hope you two don't mind but we need to move this quarrel back home."

* * *

The group has packed up rather quickly for once, and was leisurely making their way back to town. There's simple chatter between them and the current topic leans towards the battle today and who had beaten the most elementals.

Even though Ramona loves to join in with her claim on the top hero of the day, she has her brain racked with curiousity over the black tint. As much as she hates to admit it there was absolutely no good outcomes with any of the possibilities that come to mind. Poison? That means she's dying. Loss of control? Her powers will be weakening to the point where she can't even defeat a snevil. Curse? Self-explanatory. The list goes on.

Artix walks next to the mage for quite a while now, and notices the silence that settled over her. "Mona?" he calls. Her brow creases and she looks fairly distressed. Or at least more distressed than usual. "Ramona? Hey, what's going on with you?"

Ramona shakes herself from her thoughts at the man's words. She looks over at him apologetically. "Sorry," she says, "Nothing's wrong, I'm just . . . thinking about a lot of things, that's all." He slows his pace down to walk beside her, and throws her a pitiful expression.

Artix raises his eyebrows in question, not taking her answer seriously. He knows her better than that. Ramona senses her friend's disbelief and smiles softly "Everything is fine Artix, you worry too much."

The paladin sighs in defeat. "Alright. But if you ever need to talk about it . . ." He doesn't need to say more, Ramona knows he'll lend her his time whenever she needs him.

"Thank you."

Artix grins happily though the concern still shinning in his eyes. "How's your hand been? It didn't seem to be acting up today, right?" Ramona peers down at the bandaged appendage that casually dangles at her side.

"It's getting better, I think. But you know how the old battle wounds are." Ramona muses. She raises her right hand for Artix's inspection.

Technically, she thinks, it isn't a lie. The scars left on her hands can be considered battle wounds. When the people of Falconreach had noticed her palms that were always under wraps, they simply assumed she had suffered a horrible injury that still ailes her from time to time. Ramona decided it is in her best interest not to correct them.

Artix reaches for her hand and with ease she evades making any contact. With her magic on the fritz, it's best not to take any chances of letting him break her protection hex. He gives a small sigh that she assumes he thinks is out of her hearing range. "Geez, you're such a worry wart Artix," she teases. Her attempt to gain his smile back is in vain.

"Well if it calms your nerves, it has been fairly well for once. The wound hasn't re- opened." Not a lie, she tells herself. There isn't any wound to reopen anyway.

"Do you think you'll get to take the bandages off soon?"

Ramona can't place her finger on why it annoys her that his voice is laced with hope. And honestly, she knows Artix is only trying to have a nice conversation to quell her troubles but the mage finds she's acting very unlike her at the moment.

"No."

Ramona allows her feet to catch up to the other members of her party almost as quickly as she replies and throws herself into conversation.

She does her best not to care when Artix decides to speed up and stick himself by Valencia instead.

* * *

Once she's home and in the inn, Ramona's mood lightens up from her initial panicked thoughts. She and the rest of the troupe joke and unwind themselves with a round of ale. She even apologizes to Artix for her foul mood after a cup or two.

The stress of the day is lifted off of their shoulders as the friends laugh and share stories. Warlic brings out a couple a magic tricks from his sleeves and manages to get a laugh from Zhoom.

Soon enough each person heads towards their separate ways and says their good nights. "Mona!" slurs a lingering Valencia. She swings an arm around Ramona who's never been good with personal contact. Ramona can't help but notice the strong smell of too much ale hanging around the other woman.

"I . . . I'm goin' to train tomorrow. . . . You shwould come. Okay?" slurs Valencia again. Ramona chuckles at her graceful companion acting anything but.

"Sure, that sounds great. But are you sure you'll be able to do so with such a hangover?" she quips. Even in her disorientated state Ramona receives a dry look from the treasure hunter. She slips out of her grasp and begins to head towards the stairs of the inn.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'll come get you in the morning though, okay?" Valencia nodded. Or at least attempt to nod.

"Goodnight!' Ramona shouts from the entrance of the inn, and she waves as Valencia yells something that sounds somewhat similar.

She lets out a heavy sigh and strides into the inn; something she does a lot lately. Ramona would have loved to have a good night of sleep for once. But insomnia wrecks her nights, and she finds it best not to mention it to her fellow adventurers (its best not to mention at lot to them actually). The rare nights when she takes a sleeping potion, or just naturally falls asleep, are plagued with nightmares and she often wakes up crying, screaming, and things are broken.

Ramona turns corner and glides up the stairs to the room that Serenity has kindly offered her for a permanent stay, free of charge as long as she keeps the ghosts away.

When she opens the door, Ramona notices the pile of laundry folded on her bed. She'll have to thank Serenity in the morning.

She changes into a simple nightgown, brushes her teeth, brushes her hair, and washes her face. Ramona flops onto the bed, exhausted. She stares at her right hand; thoughts drift into her mind again of what the cause of the black in her magic might be.

And thus, the beginning of her nights of trial and error begin.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**: _HEY! Looks who's back! :) Sorry it took forever and such, But I promise it won't happen again! I hope you like the rewrites I have done. So the story will continue, and I am going to let you know about some of the re-writes in case you didn't notice:_

_NAMES! Natsumi has been changed to Ramona._

_Personality! Ramona's personality is a bit different. She is still a shy and quiet mage who is bashful at sudden contact and is very awkward, but I have made her a little more comfortable around those she knows quite well. And the stuttering will be gone, but don't worry; it will have a place from time to time, just not everywhere. She is also supposed to be known as a healer._

_Romances! Even though in all of my rough drafts and re-writes of this, Artix and Ramona are always the couple, and they are in this one. But I have taken out the conflict of romantic feelings for Warlic. They weren't really going to be that important anyway (she realized she loves him more like a brother. . ), so I took it out to avoid confusion and such._

_Plot! No more Xan, this deals with a completely new enemy and such. I've removed the prologue for now, I may post it later but right now it is scrapped. It's still similar but slightly different._

_Well thank you for reading! I'm glad for all of those who will still read this even after my abandonment, I promise i will not let it happen again._

_~Ranelly_

_* Latin for Ice crystal  
_


	2. New Threats

Ramona has spent the whole night trying to figure out what the impurity in her magic is. She focuses on creating a ball of swirling, pure, light energy and scans it thoroughly for the blank tint. Though with each, trial, she can no longer reproduce the impurity and can no longer analyze the situation. Over two hours she sits there, with her hands out in front of her, the glowing sphere floating nicely in between her palms completely pure.

Ramona even takes the bandages off of her right palm. The black skull birthmark stares at her while she practices; but she continues on, ignoring the horribly scarred skin around it.

Finally the woman gives up, and flops on to the bed, pulling a pillow over her head as she lets out a frustrated groan. It isn't as helpful as she thought it would be. She slides over to the window and pulls the curtains open, letting light filter in and scatter around the room.

"It's already this early?" Ramona says to herself.

Slowly she steps away from the window and instead towards the floor length mirror nailed to her wall. Ramona examines her looks in the mirror, something she's not accustomed to.

Her hair is a snowy white that is a little longer than her shoulders, and her eyes are crimson colored. The color runs in her family line, so she often avoids making eye contact with others. Or when staring at the mirror.

Her skin has a pale look to it which is expected. She has long, thin legs, that often have her tripping and stumbling over various objects. Ramona's eyes travel down to the reflection of her hips. She owns a strangely thin waist, and average hips, which gives her body the illusion of having curves.

A loud knocking comes from her door. Hurriedly Ramona rushes over to the door, curious as to what is so urgent. Quickly, albeit clumsily, her hands trail down the door undoing all the miscellaneous locks on the way.

"One moment please!"

Carefully Ramona swings the door open to reveal Serenity. Her brow is pushed together in annoyance, and she is fully armed with mail and packages.

"Morning Ramona, hope I didn't wake you up," she huffs and thrusts a few items Ramona's way. "here, these are for you."

Serenity stands there and fumbles with the letters dropping a few here and there and Ramona jumped to grab them off the floor. She can't help sneak a peek at the mail that fell and notice that a few of these letters were addressed to people she would be seeing today. An idea came to mind.

"I-if you'd like, I can deliver some of these letters for you? I believe I'll be seeing Zhoom and Cysero today." Ramona mumbles.

Serenity looks as though she'd hug the mage if her hands weren't full. "Oh thank you! There's just so much mail coming in today, and you should take about three stops off my trip today." She shifts a little adjusting the packages she held to one hand and with the other, she grabs another letter. "This one's for Lady Celestia, I don't think you'd mind visiting her."

Ramona smiles and blushes, then takes the letter along with the others. "Well I have to be going now, have a good day!" The innkeeper bounds down the stairs and out the door before Ramona can shout a thank you for her folded laundry.

Realization dawns on Ramona it is time for training. And just as quickly as she has come to the realization, does she notice she is still in her nightgown.

A squeak of embarrassment escapes her lips, she tugs at the hem of her nightgown and reaches out to shut the door. Once the door is properly shut and her dignity saved, Ramona slips into a light robe and out the door, only stopping to grab her staff.

She has more trouble than usual getting out of the inn today. There are far more people than she is used to and thinks Serenity was right, she did have a lot of work to do. It's fairly cramped; people are standing shoulder to shoulder yelling various things here and there. All these people fitting in the tiny inn of Falconreach was a humorous thought. None the less, she manages to get out without wasting too much time wading through the crowd.

* * *

Her journey is quite short after that. It doesn't take long for Ramona to get to Valencia's home but it takes the will of an army to get her out.

"no.'

"Valencia, please. You can't hide and nurse your hangover all day."

"Yes I can. That's what I'm doing now, see? It's very possible."

"Who knows, it could help to be outside for a while, get your blood pumping. Actually I'm quite sure it will. So if you would plea-"

"Go. Away."

Ramona sighs and glares at the figure hiding beneath the covers. She scans the room for ideas of how to get the grumbling treasure hunter out of bed. She spies the curtains.

She leans over the bed and yanks Valencia's satin sheets from her clutches. She's barley able to let out a startled grumble before Ramona pulls the curtains aside; Valencia gives her a very lost look and hisses when the light hits her eyes. "Up," the mage orders.

It may have taken awhile but Valencia manages to remove herself from the trenches of her bed. Although she stumbles -and nearly falls over twice, mind you- she crawls inside her closet and emerges fully dressed. Out of politeness Ramona ignores all the profanities that stream from her friend's mouth.

"I'm sorry, but the training was your idea," she mumbles feeling guilt settle in her stomach. She hands Valencia a red potion of apology. But the violet haired maiden smiles at her.

"No harm done. But when we bring out the targets duck for cover." She proceeds for the door and quickly ducks outside with Ramona in pursuit. The two walk at a slow pace though Ramona isn't sure if they were enjoying the weather or if Valencia can't handle too much speed at the moment.

Ramona twists the hem of her sleeves "Sorry."

"Shush, you're fine." Valencia clumsily waves a hand in her face.

* * *

Ramona spots Cysero and Warlic in the clearing ahead of them and leaves Valencia behind to catch up. Cysero is the first to see her and offers a friendly wave "Mornin' Mona, how are you today?"

The mage smiles shyly. She replies "I'm doing fine today, how about you Cysero?"

He seems to think about it for a minute before replying "I'm opalescence." Ramona just smiles and stares at him, having no idea what that meant exactly and deciding she probably didn't want to either.

"W-well, that's great. Oh!" her hands jump to her satchel and pull out two letters. "U-uhm, these are for you, they arrived at the inn this morning s-so I thought I'd bring them to you." He smiles, takes his letters and prances off, leaving the Ramona wondering why that man was the way he is. Meekly she gives her hello's to Warlic and Zhoom, handing Zhoom his letters as well.

Quickly the group splits off into pairs to begin their training. Valencia and Zhoom take their stances and begin, both being well trained in hand to hand combat while Artix and Ramona square off, each more trained in magic. Warlic and Cysero decide to sit out for now seeing as Cysero isn't one for fighting and Warlic, well, there isn't much training could do for Warlic at the level he is.

Valencia and Zhoom appear as small flashes here and there. It becomes hard to focus on any detail, each becoming too fast for the eye to see.

She flicks her eyes back to Artix who stand a few feet away from her now. His offensive stance is ever present and a smirk plastered on his shining face. Ramona gives a small frown and takes her own pose, arms out in front of her as if she was an archer. He draws his sword.

"Bring it." He teases.

Chuckling a bit, she snaps her fingers and swirling yellow energy spews forth taking the shape of a bow and arrow. A slight shock tingles in her spine but she ignores it, used to the effect electricity has on your body. Not wanting to be caught off guard Ramona takes the first move, releasing the energy bolt. Artix manages to dodge it although the arrow grazes his left ear.

He takes off running with sword raised above his head. She can see the light energy swirling around the blade as it nears her but she manages to put up a shield in the nick of time.

The spar continues so, in a pattern of attack, dodge, and repeat. Neither of them cares though, because halfway through it is less training and more of a game two small children would play. Artix snorts when he ducks from another of her arrows but is quite surprised to hear a yelp afterwards.

Quickly Ramona disperses her bow and runs towards whom her arrow has landed in. "I am so sorry!" she cries. Artix tries not to laugh at the way she panics.

Valencia and Zhoom also stop when Ash and Robina arrive. Ash holds his arm which now had a nasty wound where the arrow had hit. "Sorry we're late!" he calls.

"Oh god, oh god oh god oh god, I'm so sorry Ash, I assumed you weren't coming today a-and then you showed up a-and I wasn't being careful and I'm so sorry!" Ramona begins to fuss over the young man, her hands skimming over the wound lightly. "I promise I will heal this for you right away!" Ash laughs nervously at Ramona's actions.

Artix looks from the squabbling Robina and Ramona to the others who had stopped sparring. "I think it's time to break," he announces, though it's not really necessary. After glancing around, the rest of the group decides to sit and relax for a few minutes.

Now on the ground, Ramona proceeds to ghost her hands over the injury, her palms glowing lightly. "It isn't bad, right? It won't scar will it?" Robina has become impatient as she always does when it came to Ash. She swats Robina away with a knowing smile.

"No, I don't use anything too serious while sparring, it will just take a minute." she answers. "This will tingle a bit." Finally her hands come in contact with his skin and she lest the pulsing flow ebb into Ash's arm. Ramona focuses the energy as if they were her hands, going through picking the missing, torn flesh and bringing the pieces back together. That is, she was until Ash screamed.

He yanks himself away from Ramona, who falls backwards at the force. "A-ash?" She jumps back up and reproaches him. He has doubled over and she can hear a hiss of pain coming from his mouth. Robina rests her hand on the boy's shoulder, worry etched into her face.

"Ash? Ash, what's wrong? Ash!" Robina calls and only then does he sit up. Slowly he extends his arm again for Ramona.

"I know you said it would tingle but I didn't expect it to sting so badly," He grunted, "I think I can handle it now. Go on." Ash gives Ramona s strained smile, expecting a shy look or an apologetic grin but all he sees is a face drained of its color.

"It . . . Stung?" Artix and Warlic let curiosity take hold and scoot over to investigate.

"Yeah, it was like someone was burning my arm from the inside out . . . .'Mona?"

The person in question has gone white, her face showing a feeling along the lines of panic. Everything swirls around her head.

Warlic takes over for her. "It's not supposed to sting, it should feel similar to when you step onto a healing pad, but at a much smaller magnitude. Ramona?" She glances up at the blue mage, "try again. Remember to focus."

She nods curtly and takes hold of Ash's arm. The wound is nowhere near better, looking infected and a fraction bigger than it had been before. Chills spiral down her back nervously.

Ramona begin to breathe deeply, concentrating on building up the healing energy inside of her body. With an outward breath she pushes the energy to her palms and rests them gently on the wound. Again Ramona begins to heal the injury and mend the broken flesh.

But again Ash retreats from the touch, his faced twisted in pain. Quickly Warlic reaches out and examines his arm. Ramona spots how the injury has only become worse, the skin turning black and charred.

"Ramona, I think you should take Ash to see the Priestess," Warlic muses, although his expression was grave. The Blue Mage caught her gaze and she could see he had a much deeper meaning that was being conveyed.

"Lady Celestia . . . ?" momentarily his orbs flick to Ramona's bandaged palms and a ton of bricks come crashing down.

Her birthmark. Her _scar._ The black tint, the increased power, and the failed healing all made sense now and a crippling fear settles in her veins.

She mumbles a small 'yes' and quickly stands up, leaning back and forth nervously on her feet. Ramona waits for Robina and Artix to assist Ash in getting off the ground and can _see_ the question in their faces.

"Mona, what's going on?" Artix inquires. She stares at her feet.

"I'm not really sure. I- I think my old battle wounds are acting up again and I, uhm, Ash needs to see the priestess. I'm sure she can heal him for now." Her words are soft and fast, slipping out of her mouth a flutter.

And Zhoom suddenly takes off running.

It looks as if Artix was about to speak but the sudden and abrupt sounds of Zhoom's departure catches his attention. All eyes are on Valencia, who stares curiously at the discarded letter. Ramona and the rest of the group feel too scandalized to invade Zhoom's privacy, but Valencia simply can't stand it. She cautiously approaches said letter, and snatches it from the ground. Her eyes widen.

"There's been an attack on a local town nearby the Sandsea!" The treasure hunter glances up at the rest of the group mirroring the surprised looked each person wore. Valencia darts back to the writing; her hands grip tighter than before. "Looks like an old friend of his lived there . . . he was writing for someone to help investigate it seems . . ." she trails off as she reads on and now everyone has moved in close.

All except for Ash (and Robina, who is now supporting the boy) have re-equipped anything they may have taken off for the break. Valencia speaks again "We should go. If this is really as bad as it seems, we need to prepare ourselves. It could be coming our ways"

Thoughts of the previous horror in Ash's injury have faded. It now has to wait. Ramona takes on a forceful tone. "Robina, take Ash to the infirmary or Lady Celestia. Until you do so, do not follow us."

Robina nods and escorts her friend away, seemingly fine with her duty. Although when she turns around, she and Ash share a look of concern. A failed healing and a dysfunctional mage lingered along their thoughts.

* * *

As quickly as they could, the group – now reduced to Warlic, Ramona, Artix, Cysero, and Valencia- race towards the nearest portal. Not even pausing when entering, they soon feel sand under their feet. No one needs to ask where the attack had taken place, because a large plume of thick black smoke is rising from a town only minutes away. Everything smells of destruction.

Warlic slows his pace, and the others are soon to follow. Ramona notices the paladin acting strangely. "Artix what's-" suddenly she picks up the exact smell that had him crinkling his nose: undead. And then an even more familiar smell.

She pretends not to notice but her blood chills in her veins.

Artix mutters something with his eyebrows bunched together. His pace quickens and she becomes suspicious of what he knows. But he's taken off before she can grab him and now Zhoom is in sight again. While Aritx completely brushes him off, Warlic and Valencia swarm. Politely Cysero stands back; Ramona joins him and eavesdrops while pretending to investigate charred remains of a house.

Zhoom looks disgruntled and distressed when approached. "I have never seen anything like this before. I was here just last week . . . Ramona was here too. And nothing is left. I've never seen this type of ash. Villagers claim the attackers were searching for something, they believe it could have been necromancy but this? It just can't be."

He keeps trailing off and finally gives up on explaining much more. The powerful Ranger now simply stands and stares at the sand, his mouth in a straight line.

"Well, let's not dwell too much on the attackers for now," Ramona can tell Warlic is trying to relieve some of their friend's frustration, but it appears to be a fruitless effort: Zhoom still stares stoically at the ashes. "We need to evacuate anyone still left here."

Cysero speaks up. "They've already been evacuated." He nods towards the ruins of a once popular city and starts to draw pictures nonchalantly in the sand. "Do you see anyone lurking around? They're all at the inn."

_So that's why everything was so crowded this morning. _

Warlic sniffs the air and cringes. He explains "The air smells like brimstone, sulfur, and . . . dead. But I don't see any corpses . . . Artix?"

The person in question has just dumped a pile of the ash into Warlic's travelling sack. He isn't too happy about that. "Care to explain?" He shoots Artix a very, _very_ dry look.

"Sorry, I need a sample and there are no pockets in my armor. Zhoom, the villagers are right, this is Necromancy. Just a type that hasn't been seen in years . . . do you smell the Myrrh? Necromancy doesn't call for Myrrh."

Ramona is now crouching very still near the ashes she was 'examining'. Her gaze locks on a particular patch of sand; she's trying desperately to control her breathing.

"Hmm," Zhoom seems to find some sort of comfort in knowing what had done this and beings to function again. "You may head back to FalconReach, there isn't much for you to do to help, I will take care of my people." He turns to Artix with a steely gaze. "Contact me as soon as you have information on these villains. Immediately."

Artix nods and offers his hand to shake, which Zhoom accepts politely before Artix departs. Warlic and Valencia follow suit with Cysero behind them. The lady mage waits a moment.

She stares at the ruins of the town and her eyes soften. The smell of Myrrh sticks out strongly, and though it had chilled her bones before, her heart now throbs along with her bandaged hand in memory. Ramona cannot count how many times she has prayed to never see a sight like this again.

In the distance Valencia calls her names and Ramona finally turns to leave. But her eyes catch a glimpse of a figure standing off in the background.

When she looks again, the figure is gone. While she assures herself it was nothing, her mind's eye claims the familiar figure had a cloak black like the smoke, and wore a shining red pendant to which she owned the matching half; a pendant that once belonged to her mother.

* * *

_**A/N:** Wow! It sure has been a long time hasn't it! Sorry for not keeping my promises about updating . . . my life just gets really busy and I have had some really hard times this year . . . . But anyway, I have started to write again! So this is where the plot starts to roll now. The next chapter will most likely be Artix's POV, and will explain a few things! I hope you like!_

_~Ranelly_


End file.
